Method of preparing fly-paper



(Sp'ecimensJ No. 402,870. Patented May 7, 1889.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED B. TRENNER, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

METHOD OF PREPARING FLY-PAPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 402,870, dated May 7, 1889. Application filed November 30,1888. serial No. 292,267- (Specimens) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED B. TRENNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Preparing Sticky Fly- Paper, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in preparing fly-paper, and more especially to that class of fly-paper in which one face thereof is coated with a sticky material for the purpose of catching and holding the flies.

Hithertoin the packing and handling of sticky fly-paper each sheet has been doubled over once or folded at the middle, with the sticky face on the inside and the uncoated bottom exposed, thereby protecting the sticky face from contact when not in use. Now the sheet' thus folded, being open at three sides, allowed the oozing out of the sticky material when under sufficient heat to melt it, (in summer weather or otherwise,) thereby causing all the sheets in the box or package to become more or less besmeared with said escaping material, badly sticking them together and seriously dam aging the goods in both the handling and sale thereof. The box containing such sheets would also become rendered unfit for use by the soaking of said melted sticky material through its substance. To overcome these objections my invention herein describedand shown is designedyand it consists in the herein-described manner of temporarily closing the three outer open edges or sides of the customary folio or once-folded sticky sheet of fly-paper, all as fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan View showing a sheet of my improved sticky fly-paper in its folded condition, (that which it assumes when packed with others in a boX,) the face having the outside folded edges being disposed upward, just as it is arranged in practice; Fig. 2, a crosssection on line 00 a: of Fig. 1 Fig. 3, a sectional elevation on line 'y y of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 a perspective view of my improvement in its open condition for use.

A represents a sheet of paper having on one of its faces a coating of sticky material, B.

0 represents the center line or customary fold of the sheet, a a. two side-folded edges or laps thereof, and b an end fold or lap.

For the purpose of clearness I have shown the paper as apparently quite thick in the several sections, Figs. 2 and 3; but it is not necessary to use thick paper. The size of the sheet in general use is eighteen (18) inches by twenty-four (2th) inches, and the folded edges or laps of the once-folded sheet are about three-fourths (e) of an inch wide. The advantages of making the folds or laps on the outside of the folded sheet at its three open edges, as shown, are manifold, and I shall here name a few of them which I deem the most apparent and important, viz: The sticky matter, should it become melted and thin, is prevented from spreadingout to and runningover the edges of the sheet, thereby preserving the cleanliness of each sheet, and, if packed with others in aboX, (one on the other with the face having the outside folded edges disposed upward, as shown in Fig. 1,) it also insures the cleanliness of all throughout said box. All the sheets are always preserved in proper condition for hand ling, and the sticky material cannot possibly come in contact with the hands, clothes, or other objects, and the boX itself cannotbecome saturated with the melted sticky material or damaged thereby. The edges of the folded sheet are thus very tightly closed, so as to exclude the air and prevent the drying of the sticky material at that point, where they would otherwise become glued together and cause the paper to tear when an attempt was made to open the sheet for use, and, finally,

the outside folded edges being somewhat thicker than the interior or body of the sheet, they materially relieve the pressure of one sheet onthe other at said interior or middle portion when packed, and thereby render the sticky material less likely to spread. I prewhich the material is to be spread,) thereby making the same impervious, so as to prevent the soaking through of the adhesive, after which the field of the sized sheet is covered with the adhesive compound within an inch or two (more or less, as desired) of the outer edges thereof, thereby leaving a surrounding margin free from the adhesive material for properly making the folds a a b, as above described, so as to form a seal, and eifectually obviate any possibility of said compound oozing or escaping outward through said folds while the sheet is closed for the purpose of transportation or storage.

I claim-- The hereindesmibed method of preparing 

